Braun takes over as commander of NATO battalion in Lithuania

Lieutenant Colonel Rene Braun of Germany took over as commander of NATO's multinational battalion in Lithuania in a ceremony in Rukla on Thursday.

Braun replaced Lieutenant Colonel Wolf Ruediger Otto, who had served as commander of the enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group for six months

Braun started his service in the German Armed Forces in 1997 and has been the commander of the 393rd tank battalion stationed in Bad Frankenhausen since August 2017. He has in the past served in multinational missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Germany leads the 1,200-strong multinational battalion, which was deployed to Rukla, in central Lithuania, in early 2017, with other contributing nations being Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway.

In response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine and its activity in the Baltic Sea region, NATO has also deployed similar units to Latvia, Estonia and Poland.